New to Pelican w/ '89 Carrera

[ruwoodbury]

Hello,
I've been reading the forum for some weeks now as I was looking for a Carrera to purchase. After spending four months or so searching I found an '89 Carrera in Linen Grey with 60k. Last week my son and I flew out to NY, picked up the car and drove it home to Utah over four+ days.
Previously I had an '06 Cayman S that I utterly destroyed in an accident last year and decided to replace it with an older 911 rather than something newer. The car drove perfectly over 2,400 miles and looks great. I look forward to learning more and making a few changes with an eye toward a future mild backdate. I've ordered a chip, bypass pipe and open airbox for now (I'm at 5,200 feet so I want to regain the power it had near sea level). I have the original Fuchs that I'm going to have refinished in the early style (so the 17" Fikse wheels and tires will be for sale in a few months).
This is a great site for information and entertainment and I'm certain I can count on people here for help when needed.
Here's a picture in Cheyenne, WY on the morning of the final push to home.
BW

[Porchcar guy]

handsome car -Welcome to the madness

[Caferacer]

That is indeed a beautiful car. I have found mine to also be a great opportunity to bond with my teenage son. Sad to see that car leave NY though.

[Josh D]

Welcome! I imagine driving from NY to UT with your son in a 911 Carrera to be a memorable drive!

[billybek]

Nice ride!
Welcome...

[Kidasters]

Nice - the very last of the 3.2's. Great color. Can't wait to see it with the fuchs again.

[WIL84911]

Beautiful unique color. I like those wheels.

[pete3799]

Nice car.
I only had a 160 mile trip to get mine home. Wish it was longer.
Your face must hurt from smiling for 2400 miles.
Best of luck with it.

[WERKD e28]

congratulations! noice !

[CCM911]

Really nice car! I love a Coupe without a tail. I am glad you mentioned the Fuchs, as those wheels on it now are totally ghetto.

As for the power loss, I thought that elevation changes were a non-issue in an injected car. But I am probably wrong. In any case, you made all the right choices with regards to mods.

[megerian]

Personal taste, of course, but I also would be eager to swap out those wheels.

[Quicksilver]

An engine is basically an air pump so the more air/fuel mixture you put in the more power you get out of it. So yes you will lose some power at altitude...

Don't expect any more power out of the airbox. Porsche didn't screw that up. The open airbox will make more noise though. Intake sound can be a really nice form of music...

You are going to love the car. As you learn it the car keeps talking to you in ever increasingly subtle details.

[ruwoodbury]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.
The color and no whale tail pushed me over the edge--it seems like everything else I was looking at was red with a wing (even though I like red I wanted something different).
I probably lose 8-9% of the power at this altitude--the air gets thinner the higher you go. It's funny the power seems down mostly at lower rpm's but when it hits 4,600 rpm the push seems really close to what it was in the flatlands.
The wheels are very nice and in the pictures I liked them fine, but the more I see them on the car the less I like them. There not bad just not what I like on a 911.
My wife wanted me to get a late model Porsche but after thinking about it several months I realized I had an itch for an older 911 and simply needed to scratch it. So here I am with a terrific car that may be in the garage a few years or ten. We'll see (she mentioned this morning that maybe in a year I would buy a new one. Huh?!).

[canamfan]

Nice looking for sure, I too would love to see those Fuchs (hopefully in as mint shape as the rest of the car) back on!! Nice spoiler-less!

[Por_sha911]

Congrats. The unique color is cool. +1 on getting Fuchs back on it.

[kidrock]

verrrry nice, slate grey looks great. Welcome aboard.

[stlrj]

Originally Posted by ruwoodbury

It's funny the power seems down mostly at lower rpm's but when it hits 4,600 rpm the push seems really close to what it was in the flatlands.

That's because the mixture gets too rich with altitude which is not fully compensated by the altitude switch. Get the mixture leaned back to spec to regain low end throttle response you lost moving up from the flatlands.


Cheers,

Joe

[mcarmonany]

Originally Posted by Caferacer

That is indeed a beautiful car. I have found mine to also be a great opportunity to bond with my teenage son. Sad to see that car leave NY though.

Robey,

New York is getting one back when I head out to Colorado and pick mine up

[steely]

Congrats and welcome! This be the place. :-)

[djcdmv]

Very nice looking car. Welcome to the site! Did you driver her through the Rockies on your return? I headed out west twice (without 911) and really enjoyed driving through the Rockies. I can imagine it being a lot more fun in a Porsche. Enjoy it!